Plants for WTF Enclosure

[Frogs1]

Hi,

I'm thinking about putting some real plants in with my Whites Tree Frog tank, so far I have only used fake plants. The tank is 24W x 24L x 36H (Inches) and houses 4 frogs at the moment. I would still like to have fake plants in there like the suction cup vines and 1 other plant I have, but add in some fake plants to make it look nicer and hopefully mask the bad smell that sometimes comes out of the tank. I was wondering what plants would be good for whites tree frogs and this size thank, as well as what substrate I should use, as I don't use any at the moment, just glass. Thanks!

[elly]

Low-growing plants that don't mind being trampled and very sturdy plants are probably the best. I have snake plant and lucky bamboo in mine, though I know I will have to prune the bamboo. Many people also have bromeliads and if the frogs are small enough (or the bromeliads are big enough) frogs like hiding in them. As far as substrate I like Josh Frog's ABG mix. It came layered in the bags so I could make sure the big chunks that could hurt a frog if ingested were kept at the bottom. Are you doing a drainage layer or false bottom below the substrate?

[Frogs1]

Low-growing plants that don't mind being trampled and very sturdy plants are probably the best. I have snake plant and lucky bamboo in mine, though I know I will have to prune the bamboo. Many people also have bromeliads and if the frogs are small enough (or the bromeliads are big enough) frogs like hiding in them. As far as substrate I like Josh Frog's ABG mix. It came layered in the bags so I could make sure the big chunks that could hurt a frog if ingested were kept at the bottom. Are you doing a drainage layer or false bottom below the substrate?

Thanks, I'll look into those plants. I'm not to sure yet about a drainage layer of false bottom, I only really just started thinking about it and not to sure what ethier is or does. What does both of these do and which would be easier to maintain or easier to clean?

[Frogs1]

Also here is a pic of my tank woudl fake reall plants look good it in it? It's tall compared to most tanks, 3ft tall. Can you post a pic of your tank so I can see how those plants look together in an enclosure?

[elly]

Drainage layers are supposed to take the excess water from when you water your plants so that the dirt doesn't sit in water all the time and get rotten. For a drainage layer you can use about two inches of rocks (which will be heavy) or stuff you get from gardening stores called LECA (Light Expanded Clay Aggregate). There's instructions on this and false bottoms in the White's Tree Frog caresheet in the Tree Frogs section of the forum. This all sounded ridiculously complicated to me, but if a planted tank's set up well it shouldn't have to be cleaned for a long time (besides the occasional removal of poop).

[elly]

Your tank looks well set up. Lots of places to hide. As far as mixing plants, I've seen tanks with both fake and real plants that looked good. But your own opinion of your tank is what matters, right? Three feet is a good size for Whites. I wish I could find one that tall. Here's a link to a thread where I posted my tank. Keep in mind I'd just planted it and I want to separate the bamboo and snake plant so they're not so close together. I didn't mention the pothos and striped transcendentia/ wandering jew (under the branch). Those are pretty tough plants and it's easy to grow replacements from cuttings. I've also added some low-growing peacock fern since I took the picture. The tank looks a lot better now.

[elly]

Also if your real plants start small you might need to include your fake ones at least until the real ones get big enough. I'm using fake vines to cover part of the sides